


Identity

by CrypticCrowns



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, M/M, but yahabas like 'im gay', it might get sad later, kyoutani is the little shit in the village that yahaba fucks with, the female character lasts for like one chapter bc she wants to be married to yahaba, this is a medieval au, watari is his best friend that works as his servant, yahaba is a prince
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-08 13:19:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7759306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticCrowns/pseuds/CrypticCrowns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ibu family have been around for centuries, ruling the Serin kingdom with strong armies and good politics, until a death strikes the royal family and sends them into a new kind of hiding until a son is born that strives to change his family destiny. Some destinies cannot be unwritten, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning

Years ago, a family enjoys a silent dinner. Their home is large and peaceful and the family is happy. This is the royal family of Serin.

"Father! Father, can Atsuko and I go play in the garden?" A shrill voice asks, belonging to a short child with unruly hair. Her name is Maiko, and years from now, she will become Shigeru's mother and the queen of the lands. But for that to happen, her sister must die.

The king gives his daughters a long look, one is tall with straight hair, black as the night. The other has curly brown hair that can never seem to stay down, but each has creamy brown eyes. They are the princesses of this kingdom and they are most loved.

"Oh, run along. Be in before dark, though. Houses in the village have been getting raided recently" The king waves his hands to dismiss his daughters and they're off in a flurry of long hair and dresses, giggles bubbling out of them.

Hours later, when the king and queen are settling Maiko down for bed, a scream rips throughout the castle halls and the parents race to their eldest daughters room, but it is too late, their daughter is dead. Mutilated and broken, blood pouring from her neck as she lay on the floor, bleeding out. Her killer is gone and the princess is dead.

"Father, what has happened?!" Maiko shouts, racing towards her sisters room before the king catches her, pulling her away. "Mother? Atsuko? Father, mother is crying. Why is mother crying? Where is Atsuko?" The flurry of questions leave her quickly as shes carried away, face pressed tightly to her fathers chest. She must not see what has happened, but it's inevitable once the queen starts crying, shrill sounds leaving her as she clutches her dead daughters body.

"Father... is Atsuko.. dead?" Maiko whispers, face horror stricken as she looks over her fathers shoulder. Her mother is shielding the majority of the view, body bowed over in grief, but there is enough room to see Atsuko's blank eyes, forever staring. 

"Maiko, Maiko, listen to me, immediately. Listen to me" The king commands, grabbing his daughters chin and forcing her to look away, to look back at him. 

"The world is not safe. We are not safe. Maiko, what has happened to your sister is no mistake. We are not safe." His words are urgent but stern. He is the king and he must protect everyone.

"What do I do?" Maiko whispers, tears cascading down her face, dripping off her chin and onto her night gown. She is only ten.

"Never forget this sight, Maiko. For as long as you live, do not forget this." The king pauses, gruff voice losing its edge as he glances back at his wife and dead daughter. He will never forget this sight either. He has let someone come into their home and take his daughter, his first born. He will never forget this. "You will protect everyone, this will never happen again, do you hear me? Maiko, your sister is dead, she was murdered. Whatever you must do to ensure safety, do it, but never, forget this sight."

 

 

Maiko Ibu is crowned queen when she is twenty, she is married at nineteen and pregnant by the time she is twenty-two. She will bare a son who will be the heir to the throne. After her son is born, she will bare a daughter five years later. 

She has not forgotten the sight of her sister dead. She will never forget.


	2. Covered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yahaba's mother educates him on the purpose behind his new masks when she brings him his first mask.

When the queen had her first child, the kingdom's bells rang for five days, celebrating the arrival of their prince. And the moment the queen saw her son, she was struck with such a bright and happy love for her first born child. She made a silent vow to always protect him, in any and every way possible. She names him Shigeru, proclaiming that he will grow to be the most beautiful and handsome man the world has ever seen. 

For years, Shigeru doesn't leave the interior rooms of the castle, he stays hidden away from windows and anyone besides his family, until the queen births a baby girl and she rushes to find a new way to protect her children, she can't lock them away forever, her people know about her children and they must see them, know that their future rulers are alive and well, so the queen formulates a plan, one to protect her childrens identities forever. 

"Shigeru, dear, it's mommy" The queen knocks on a heavy door one after noon, pushing it open a second later, her left hand holds a circular container, full of satin cloth and one singular mask. "Mother!" Young Shigeru calls, face breaking out into a bright smile as he rushes forward, tugging at her dress excitedly, brown eyes lighting up at she steps into his room, the door falling shut behind her. "I have a present for you, Shigeru, do you wish to see it?" The queen asks, smiling down at her son who nods quickly, racing over to pull two cushions to the center of the room. His room is surprisingly well kept for somone of the age five and a half, but it is. His toys are kept in a tight circle around his toy chest and the bed is made up perfectly, his desk full of books and parchment is stacked almost perfectly. Maybe it's because he's forever stuck in the same room, doing nothing besides playing, reading or coloring. After all, he doesn't see another person unless someone visits him or he's let out.

"I would love to see it!" Shigeru laughs, climbing onto the cushion he brought out, crossing his legs and waiting patiently, although he shakes in his seat with excitement, teeth clamped onto his bottom lip as he balls his hands up into fists, excited for his gift. The queen sets the container down in between the two cushions, seating herself a second later on the other available cushion. "You may open it, but be careful with it, Shigeru" She reminds, smiling fondly at him as he rushes to open the box, eyes alight with happiness before it dulls and he looks at his mother in confusion. "What is it?" He asks, pulling his hands back from the mask laying in front of him. "A mask, Shigeru, do you like it?" The queen asks, hand coming to gently comb through Shigeru's light hair, looking like dead leaves that have frozen over, carrying a frosty shade. "What is it for?" Shigeru asks now, eyebrows pressing together in confusion as he reaches for the mask again, picking it up and turning it around in his hands, looking it over.

The mask is long and would cover Shigeru's whole face perfectly. One half of the mask is white and the other half is a royal blue, gold and blue details on the white side with gold and white details on the blue side. It's perfectly constructed, looking and feeling as if it was constructed out of ceramic, fired to perfection and painted by a steady and gentle hand. 

It's beautiful, there is no doubt of that, but Shigeru cannot figure why his mother would give him this sort of present. "I...am not understanding" Shigeru states simply after many moments of silence, letting the mask rest on his lap as he looks to his mother, an uncertainty in his eyes as he waits for her to explain. The queens hand stills in Shigeru's hair then falls away with a sigh as she smoothes her skirt out. "My darling, Shigeru, what don't you understand?" She questions, watching her son patiently. She couldn't expect him to know why his mother gave him a mask, he was a child afterall, and no one has told him the gruesome story of his dead aunt. "I don't understand why you're giving me a mask instead of an actual present" Shigeru nods surely once he's done speaking like it was the most reasonable thing to be confused about. 

The queen sighs again and nods, gently taking Shigeru's hand. "You know how your father and I speak of your aunt at times?" She asks, waiting for him to nod before she continues. "She died when I was very young from very bad people-" Shigeru cuts her off quickly, perking up. "What bad people?" He asks, eyes widening now as he listens. "Cowards, Shigeru. The bad people were cowards that ran away after your aunt died, and they weren't ever seen again" She explains slowly, rubbing Shigeru's knuckles as he listens with wide and curious eyes. "Cowards..." Shigeru repeats in a whisper, glancing down at the floor as he thinks, "What is a coward, mother?" He ponders, looking up at her again. "A coward is someone who cannot take responsability for their actions, someone... who ran from a battle. Like a knight who abandons his battalion" The queen explains, watching to see Shigeru's eyes light up in understanding before he glances at his toy soldiers around his toy box. "That is a very cowardly act! The soldier is usually killed if he returns homes, since he abandoned his post and his people" Shigeru beams, proud of himself for knowing now.

His mother lets out a short chuckle as she nods "Yes, Shigeru, that is very true. It's much the same for cowards, especially the ones who have murdered the princess" She explains to him, resituating herself on her cushion to face her son better. "But you didn't find the cowards!" Shigeru pipes up, waiting for his mother to nod to confirm his assumption. "Then they're still out there?!" Shigeru squeaks, glancing at his windows in fear, shying back towards his mother. "That's why I had this mask made for you, dear, if no one knows what you look like, you will be protected" The queen murmurs, picking the mask up in her hands and holding it out towards Shigeru. "By the mask?" He asks softly, eyebrows drawing together again as he reaches for the mask slowly. "Yes, by the mask, do you wish to try it on?" She questions softly to which Shigeru nods, standing up and walking towards his mirror. The queen follows him, bending down to carefully tie the mask onto his head, taking time in securing every knot. "You may take the mask off at night and during meals with our family, but never anywhere else. You may never take it off when you are in front of anyone that isn't our family, understand?" She asks, finishing the last knot and stepping back so Shigeru can see. 

"It looks weird..." He mumbles, fixing the mask as he stares at himself in the mirror, lips curled in disgust under the ceramic. "It does not, it looks good, you'll grow into it anyways" The queen whacks his arm to reprimand him. Shigeru yelps and rubs his arm, huffing as he fixes his hair over the mask. "See? This is a good present for you. It's the present of safety, Shigeru. Be wise and be thankful for it, not many people are as lucky as you are to receive such a good gift" The queen smiles down at him as he turns to glance at her, brown eyes more vivid against the paint. "Like my aunt?" He asks, head tilted upwards as he watches his mother clench her eyes shut and breathe out a shakey sigh before she nods and opens her eyes again. "Exactly right, Shigeru. Just like your aunt. Now, why don't we go play in the garden together? There's another present waiting there for you.." She smiles sweetly at him as he gets up and rushes to his window, pushing back the thick curtains to look out. His room laid right over the garden after all. "A horse! You've gotten me a horse?!" Shigeru laughs as he backs up, racing towards the door and then back to his mother, grabbing her hand and tugging her towards the door. He immediately forgot about the fact that his first gift was a ceramic mask he had to wear, the gift of 'safety'. But he wouldn't always forget, as he grows, he would remember more and more that living his life under a mask, under a veil of 'safety' wasn't nearly as fun as living without it, but that was the life of a prince. The life of this prince.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yahaba is finally here!! Kyoutani will show up in a few chapters!

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if you like this!! Ive had this idea circling for a while now and Im super proud of it


End file.
